One of the greatest quotes of all time reads: “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” We all know the old rule of thumb that if you want to create or break a habit, effort must occur at least 21 times, but do we know where the 21 comes from, or if it’s even true? Although we all like the idea of creating a habit within three weeks, when we think about changing our lives for the better, sometimes it’s best not to think about how long it’s going to take, but instead think about what it’s going to take.

So, what’s it going to take? Consistency. The sum of small efforts repeated day after day.

For fitness-related goals, consistent efforts need to be present both in and out of the gym. This means that you need to train yourself to push all excuses aside.

Shut off the inner voice in your brain that tells you all the things that you should be doing instead of working out.

Learn how to say no to the junk food at the grocery store and the extra piece of desert at the restaurant.

How bad do you want to reach your goals? Bad enough to develop the discipline it takes? If you don’t know where or how to start in the process of acquiring consistency, stick to these important steps:

Gather Motivation

The easiest step in the entire process of reaching your goals comes at the beginning, or the ‘honeymoon’ stage. This is where you will feel inspired and motivated to change yourself and reach your goals, no matter how far away they may seem. The most important thing for you to do in this phase is to hold onto this positivity as long as you can.

Write down your goals. Read them to yourself often, especially when the motivation starts to fade away. Look at photos or watch videos of those who inspire you when you begin to lose sight of what got you started.

2. Get Moving

This is where you need to train your brain and implement the “whatever it takes” attitude, even if it means you are just rolling through the motions at times. Take advantage of the motivated honeymoon phase, and use it to your greatest advantage to instill positive habits. Develop the consistency right away, and do not hesitate to start your journey. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to start.

Remember: motivation does not last forever, so get moving as soon as possible! Once the motivation and inspiration fades, you will want to have your consistent habits already in place, so much that they become second nature. Discouragement, setbacks, and life’s interruptions will mean nothing to you if you have already developed consistency.

3. Challenge Yourself

When you start to struggle with reaching your goals, regardless of the origin of the struggle, you need to challenge yourself, both physically and mentally. Understand that the loss of motivation after a period of time is normal, but it doesn’t have to displace you from your journey. By recognizing that consistent efforts are necessary, no matter what your state of excitement is, you will build the foundations of long-term habit.

Challenge yourself mentally by asking how you are going to feel if you skip the gym today or how it will feel to lose track with your nutrition by buying junk food at the grocery store. By putting it into that kind of perspective, you bring emotion into the picture. Train yourself to realize that every little effort you make that adds to your end goal deserves an inner reward.

You can also mentally challenge yourself by picturing your life in five years. Imagine the good, or bad, choices that you are about to make and what kind of impact they will have on you. If the choices will add to your health and happiness, do them, but if they are only going to take you further from your goals, then you probably want to reconsider.

While you may think of your goals as so far away that it will take you months to achieve them, remind yourself that great habits are formed daily. It is the result of small daily efforts that will create consistency, which is the only way that you will achieve and maintain long-term results. Stop listening to the voice in your head that is telling you it’s going to be too hard or take too long. Don’t wait any longer to take control of your life and get started towards feeling good about yourself. Gather all the motivation that you need, get moving today, and challenge yourself, especially when the going gets tough.

This is the second part of a two-part series on increasing your bench press. To read the first part, click here.

Increasing your Bench Press is a slow, yet rewarding process. There are a few key tricks that will help you sky-rocket your results, leading you to faster strength and muscle gains. This post will get down to basic concepts that you can add to your training routine today, allowing you to put up an impressive amount of weight as fast as possible.

We are going to break down to the fine details of three key factors that need to be implemented in order to increase your bench press. First, accessory work needs to be a priority. Second, you need to bench more often, and third, you need to find your weaknesses and tackle them effectively. By following these three tips as closely as possible, you will explode your bench press strength tremendously.

Prioritize Your Accessory WorkIf a stronger bench is what you desire, you need to break down the individual muscles that help move the weight from your chest back up to the lockout. The muscle groups that should gain priority when building your bench press are:

Delts- Assist with getting the barbell out of the hole and off of your chest.

Triceps- Heavily involved with the top half, or the lockout, of the movement.

Lats- Stabilize the entire body, with the help of rear delts, during a strong bench set-up.

​For a free cheat sheet on the best strength-building movements for each of these muscle groups, see the end of this post.

If any of these muscles are lagging in strength, so will your bench press. Place a priority on increasing these muscle groups, and you will definitely see an increase in your bench strength.

Bench More Often

You've heard the old saying, "Practice makes perfect," and practice is exactly what you need to be making more of a focus on when trying to become a better bencher. Waiting seven days in between bench sessions is like trying to learn how to ride a bike, but only practicing one day a week. If you want to get better at something, you must do it frequently.

Waiting seven days in between bench sessions is like trying to learn how to ride a bike, but only practicing one day a week.

How often per week do I recommend you bench press for maximal gains? Start with twice a week, with the hopes of eventually increasing to three times a week. This gradual increase will allow the body to make proper adaptations to the higher frequency.

Attack Your Weak Points

It's a common sight these days to see lifters utilizing tools and equipment to improve specific points on the bar path that may be holding back one from progressing properly. Board press, chains, bands, floor press, paused bench, and pin press are among common movements that can be implemented to increase the strength where you specifically need it. If you have trouble with:

Lockout:Use chains or bands to increase weight/resistance at the top of the movement. The loading of chains or bands allow there to be less weight in your hands at the bottom of the movement, while gradually increasing weight/resistance as the bar gets further away from the chest.

Mid-Point(s):Add floor press, board press, and pin press to at least one of your bench press days. Pick one of these movements, get good at it, and then rotate to another. Focus on only one of these three movements each month.

Bottom of the Movement:Practice paused bench press. The ideal time for a paused bench press is 2 or 3 seconds. Make sure you stay tight, and do not allow the bar to simply just rest on your chest; keep constant tension.

Growing a strong bench press takes time, patience, and applying the correct methods. By prioritizing your accessory movements, increasing your bench press frequency, and targeting your weak points more effectively, you will see a better bench press in due time.

For a free accessory work cheat sheet on movements you can start doing in the gym right now to increase your bench press strength, enter your email address below.

With our 1st Annual Bench Press Competition coming up on Sunday, November 22, 2015, we wanted to drop a few tips that will help increase your bench press numbers, leading to greater confidence in our Competition and beyond.

This post will be broken down into the first of two parts:

Proper Form/Technique

Movements Necessary to Increase Bench Strength (part 2)

Please note that some of these guidelines and tips are for strength-style bench pressing, otherwise known as 'Powerlifting-style.' Benching for aesthetic purposes, or 'Bodybuilding-style,' will have some similarities, but will not be the focus of this article.

Setting Up For The Perfect Bench Press​Proper bench technique begins with having an effective set-up.

Position yourself on the bench with your eyes directly underneath the barbell.

Drive your shoulders into the bench, squeezing the shoulder blades together and tucking them downward. Keep your upper back tense and tight throughout the lift.

Arch your back, so that the lower back comes off the bench, while keeping glutes and upper back in contact with the bench. Chest should be raised toward the ceiling.

Plant feet about shoulder-width apart, directly underneath your knees. Force the knees outward; this will tighten and activate the quads and glutes, which will assist in using power from your legs to drive the bar upward on each rep.

Grab the barbell with a grip that is slightly wider than shoulder-width. Hold the bar low in your hands, closer to your wrists than your fingers. Squeeze the bar as hard as you can.

Keep wrists straight and do not cup your hands, as shown below in photo.

​Executing the lift.

Keep forearms perpendicular to the floor, as you begin the descent of the bar towards your chest.

Grip should remain firm. Entertain the notion of bending the bar in half, or attempting to pull it apart. This will increase shoulder stability and keep shoulder blades pulled together.

Be sure to keep a constant straight line from bar to wrist to elbows.

Bar path should land on mid-chest, instead of directly on shoulders.

These first three points can be shown in diagram below:

This next pointer is perhaps THE most important tip to remember.

Elbows: tuck them!

The act of flaring out the elbows too much is what gives benching a bad reputation of ruining shoulders. On the other hand, tucking them too much will allow for the triceps to take over, which can cause instability with too much weight on the bar. A good rule of thumb for tucking elbows is to keep them at about 60-70 degrees relative to the torso. The middle hand position shown below represents the elbow position that is most desired.

Now, back to the movement.

The barbell NEEDS to touch your chest, or it doesn't count, plain and simple. Half reps do not build strength or muscle, and they actually lead to more injury and underdevelopment.

Bring the barbell down to the middle of your chest, and touch the chest (NO BOUNCING EITHER- another great way to add injury).

Consider the notion of pressing your body into the bench, versus pressing the bar away from your body. This helps to maintain your set-up form and maximize power.

Another helpful tip is to utilize your leg power as much as possible without removing your glutes from the bench. To do this, drive power through your quads and into the bar each time it touches your chest. This is more geared towards advanced lifters, but anyone can learn with a little bit of practice.

Bottom Line:Apply the strategies listed in this article to safely increase your bench press, while reducing the risk of injury. Take time to learn proper form and technique before overloading the barbell, even if it means your half-rep or bouncing-off-your-chest rep is no longer your max. Once you take a step back and work on form, your strength will increase tremendously. Give it time and patience, and it will pay off.

​We've all heard the phrase "train movements, not muscles," however, they both have their place in your regimen, regardless of your fitness goals. Form is one thing that should never be overlooked when lifting weights, but all too often, it ends up this way. The approach to weight training should instead be "compound movements first, isolation movements second." Choosing the right exercises to effectively learn before breaking the compound down into isolation parts is key to getting results. The six major movement patterns with example lifts, in no particular order, are:

One of the biggest mistakes made while creating a training program is the omission of placing a focus on these six areas. The second biggest mistake is performing any of these movements, but without paying attention to a focus on form or performing the movement correctly.

For example: a full rep of anything is when the entire range of motion is taken into effect. Let's take the bench press: a correct rep begins when the elbows are in a locked out position, then moves to a complete touch of the chest (NOT BOUNCE), and it is then complete when the elbows are fully locked out again. Another example is the squat: a complete rep is one where the hips drop lower than the knees, breaking the "parallel point."

Anything less on these or other movements is simply cheating oneself of gains in both strength and muscular development.

The six movements patterns mentioned above should have their place and make up the majority of any training program, regardless of goal, in order to get the most out of your time in the gym. These patterns will help your body to move more efficiently, which will in turn skyrocket your strength and muscle growth. Once these movements are learned, perfected, and made a priority, then comes the curls, leg extensions, push-downs, and raises. Compound movements first, isolation movements second!

The number one complaint I seem to get from people who want to live a healthier lifestyle is "I would buy a gym membership, get healthier groceries, buy these nutritional products and supplements, etc., but I just don't have the money." Nine times out of ten, they do have the money; they just spend it elsewhere on things that will never add value to their lives. For example, is an expensive purse going to add years to your life? Is going out drinking 2-4 times a week going to make you healthier? Is having the fanciest cell phone going to allow you to spend more time with the ones you love? The answer to all of those questions is obvious: NO. If you aren't making your health a priority and are spending more time and money on superficial items that add zero value to your life, then it might be time to take a step back and reevaluate your priorities.

All too often, I see people saying that they only have X amount of dollars to spend on food each month, or that they can't afford supplements because they are out of their price range. Then I take a look at their social media pages and see them going out partying every weekend or going out to eat every night. Instead of putting your health and wellness on a budget, try putting your entertainment on a budget. The $50 spent at the bar 8 times a month adds up to $200+ real quick. This doesn't even include money spent on the usual buffet meal the next day to ease the hangover. The 18 hours spent on going out: planning, getting ready, pre-gaming, sleeping in, feeling like crap the next day and laying around, etc. That's what I like to call time debt. Imagine what you could do, what you could accomplish with an extra $200+ and 80+ hours a month. You could have the things you wish to have and be the person who you wish to be.

YOU are important, and so is your health.Invest in yourself.Treat your body the way it deserves to be treated.Love your body, and it will love you back. You can't expect your body to love you if you constantly deprive it of necessary exercise, hydration, and nutrients, but instead drinking yourself into a blackout state and consuming insanely processed and greasy foods every weekend. I only say this because I have been there. I have been that person who gave zero regards to what was or wasn't going into my body, and my physical and mental health suffered because of it. I'm not condoning or saying to give up social drinking by any means at all. The entire point of this post is to create the awareness of the fact that you DO have time, and you DO have money to spend on your health. If it's not in the bank or in your possession right now, then ask yourself why. Why is drinking, expensive clothing, or sitting on the couch more important to you than spending time and money on improving and prolonging your life? Why would you rather spend money going out to eat than spending it on healthy groceries or nutritional products? Why would you rather spend time getting your nails done every week instead of hitting the gym or going for a jog?

I also want to touch base on the other meanings of expensive, meanings that most people probably don't think of when they call being healthy "expensive." Rebootedbody.com hit the nail on the head with this concept: Living an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to a negative body image. When those body image issues cause you to engage in negative self talk, self-hatred, and to feel immense shame, that’s emotionally expensive. When all of that baggage manipulates how you interact with the people you love, that’s relationally expensive. When you’re too tired, big, sore, inflamed, or out of shape to play with your kids, that’s developmentally expensive, for them. When you’re older and completely lose mobility and independence and your family has to put you in a nursing home or personally care for you, what will those social, emotional, relational, and financial expenses add up to for everyone involved? Suddenly it becomes about those who you love instead of just yourself.

It's simple: find out where you spend your time and money. Once you figure that out, you will know where your priorities lie. Another thing to keep in mind is ask yourself if what you are doing or spending money on right now is something that you would want your future children to be doing with their lives or their money. I'll leave you with those reality checks, but before I end this post, I want to show visual proof to those who are still doubtful or skeptical about being healthy on a budget. Scroll all the way to the bottom, as these are important to see.

Want change in your life? Want results but can’t seem to get them? Have a goal you can’t seem to reach no matter what you do? There’s a strong likelihood that it’s because you’re not used to being uncomfortable. Stepping out of your comfort zone is one of the best ways to trigger ﻿positive﻿ change in your life. ﻿ Think back to a time when you truly felt ﻿empowered﻿. Not just satisfied with yourself, but truly and completely powerful, strong, and confident. For me, this happened after a time that I accomplished something that I was once intimidated by. The same concept can be applied to the gym. Seeing people lift, especially heavy, can be incredibly intimidating. Attempting to picture yourself lifting along with them can be even more terrifying. This is where most people veer away from the weights and stay in their comfort zone in the cardio section where no one will watch or judge them. This is exactly the problem behind weight loss plateaus. Your body becomes accustomed to the 30 minutes you put in on the treadmill every day and has no reason to change because you simply aren’t working hard enough due to your own restrictions keeping you in your comfort zone. Your results depend on the effort you put in. You don’t see professional athletes or people with killer physiques training with 3-pound dumbbells or making the elliptical the highlight of their training methods. They’re doing things that challenge their body, muscles, and mind everyday, including lifting heavy. One way to get comfortable with the uncomfortable is to accept failure. Using the gym as a further example, lift heavy weights and lift them to failure. Go beyond your mindset of stopping when it hurts. Go until you’re done, and then give two more reps. Challenge yourself in this way, both in and out of the gym, and you will soon be gaining strength and endurance to power past your mental blocks. Remember: your mind quits long before your body does. Push yourself past this point, and you will soon be confronting your ‘uncomfortable’ head on. With this point, I want to emphasis something: you need to challenge yourself, and your muscles, in order to promote change. If you lift too light, you won’t see change. I promise you won’t get big and bulky; it literally takes years of hard work put in every single day, along with countless hours, to get the physique of a body builder. Besides, lifting heavier weights has so many benefits such as improving metabolism,burning calories,improving bone density,buildingmuscle, and making you a badass in general. It’s science. Not only does lifting do all of this, but it also provides confidence and mental toughness leading to the art of being a badass. Once again: science. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Get off the treadmill, bust out a few more reps after you think you hit failure, add a few more pounds to the bar, pick up a heavier dumbbell, but most importantly, be a badass in and out of the gym.

Squats are arguably one of the best exercises for the body, as they are a compound move that requires the activation of the quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, glutes, abdominals, calves, lats, and muscles around the spine. Squats can also improve muscular endurance, flexibility, vertical jump height, and allow for faster running. Although they are incredibly important for anyone looking to build strength and burn calories simultaneously, squats can also lead to injury when executed with improper form.

It is obvious that weighted squats will add more benefit for the body, but one must learn how to squat without additional weight before taking this step. The first step to squatting properly is to set your feet. You will want to line your heels up with your shoulders and point your toes very slightly outward. Next, raise your chest up and push it out. This will allow you to slightly pull your shoulder blades together which will keep your back in line for the entire movement. The back should remain straight, except for a slight arch in the lower back, as seen below.

Take note of slight arch in lower back, along with proper foot placement and slight outward angle, like discussed so far. Also, notice the downward motion instead of falling forward over the toes.

Now that you are ready to perform the squat, you will pull your abdominal muscles in and take a deep breath in as you descend downward. Your glutes should move backward, and the entire motion should feel as though you are going to sit down in a chair. One key thing to take note of is that the knees should never fall forward over the toes of your feet, and the image above can be referred to for this once again. The movement should be downward instead of forward. Focusing on keeping the chest up and out should really help here. Continue moving downward with the motion until your thighs and glutes fall slightly past parallel with the floor. Refer to the picture below to observe how one performs this movement correctly.

The line shown in figures 2-4 shows proper squat depth should be just slightly lower than parallel.

The ascend upward is one of the most crucial parts to assure that this movement is done properly. For this last step to performing a proper squat, you want to breathe out while standing back up. Drive up through the heels and focus on keeping the abdominals pulled in while feeling the quadriceps muscles, or the front part of your legs, force you upward. During this motion back towards the top, make sure that the heels stay glued to the ground and are never removed from this position. Repeat the entire sequence, and you will soon be able to add weight with either a barbell across the trapezius muscles or holding dumbbells, like shown below.

Next, you can add low moisture fruit with 17 options that vary from apples to bananas to blueberries to strawberries to pineapple. Nuts and seeds can also be added for a little something more. Sweetener can also be added, and it is highly recommended, as they use all natural sweeteners varying from splenda to monk fruit, which is a plant and calorie free, so you don't have to feel guilty about making your oatmeal sweeter! The fun part is at the very end where you get the opportunity to name your own oatmeal, which is actually printed on the label! This also makes the oatmeal a fun gift for someone who may be trying to eat healthier.

As you may know, we eat oatmeal EVERY morning as our breakfast, along with eggs or egg whites, and I also use oatmeal when I make my pancakes on mornings that I have a little bit more time or am just not in the mood for oatmeal. Here is a picture of the combinations that were included in our most recent order. This morning I made these bad boys with my custom made cinnamon roll oatmeal, which included cinnamon roll, sweet icing, and vanilla bean ice cream flavors, along with splenda to sweeten: (recipe to follow)

With our very first blog post, we want to share some super exciting news: MyOatmeal.com has decided to affiliate with us! For those of you who may not know, MyOatmeal.com is a website that allows for custom-made oatmeal with 22 million different possible flavor combinations. You have your choice of quick rolled instant oats, 5 grain rolled oats and flax, steel cut whole oats, signature smash blend, gluten free quick oats, and organic gluten free thick rolled oats. Each order is handmade and packaged specifically to your customization. They even print your own tailored nutrition facts label on each bag. The best part is the different flavors you are allowed to choose from, as you can put up to a total of three in each bag of oatmeal.

Healthy Pancakes:

1/2 cup oatmeal (of whatever flavor you want that day, that's why we buy more than one bag at a time!)

1/3 cup almond milk

1 egg white

Optional: For added moisture/texture and protein, 1/4 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt can be added

Blend all ingredients together, add more almond milk if pancake consistency isn't reached, and then place batter on skillet!